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Raphael Rooms

These rooms, commissioned by the art-loving Pope Julius II and after him by Pope Leo X, are covered with a magnificent series of frescoes by Raphael. In re-discovering the traditions of historical painting, Raphael began an art tradition that was to be followed for centuries. In each of the scenes he uses a classical symmetry in the composition, positioning the characters in perspective around a central focal point. The Stanza della Segnatura and the Stanza di Eliodoro were both painted by Raphael himself; the Stanza dell’Incendio di Borgo was done by his students under his supervision, and the ceiling by Perugino; the Stanza di Constantino was painted after Raphael’s death by Giulio Romano and Gianfrancesco Penni. Frescoes in the second room, Sala della Segnatura, were painted by Raphael between 1508 and 1511 and along with the Sistine Chapel, represent the supreme achievement of Renaissance painting. The paintings convey that period’s culture in all its splendor, and show humanist themes — the natural sciences attainable without divine revelation, philosophy, history, mathematics, civil law, and justice.